Lisa Yuskavage's Naked Ladies Confront the Gaze at David Zwirner

Lisa Yuskavage's new exhibition at David Zwirner in Chelsea explores the female body as both seductive and confrontational, echoing the late Valie Export's radical feminist performance art. Yuskavage's paintings, featuring nude or near-nude women rendered with lush brushstrokes, often depict them in art studios as models or artists. The show includes works like "Painter Painting" (2024) and "Self Portrait: Red Yellow Blue" (2025), where a brunette avatar of the artist appears. Yuskavage's figures, described as tropes rather than subjects, challenge viewers to confront their own responses to female nudity. The exhibition coincides with Export's death at 85, highlighting shared sensibilities despite different eras. Yuskavage, now in her sixties, has become a leading American figurative painter since the 1990s, though her work initially struggled for recognition due to its provocative subject matter.